Introduction: Gruesome Glove Puppets (cheap)

About: I graduated from Cardonald College with an Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design in 1999. He has worked as a Tattoo Artist, Community Artist, and Freelance Artist ever since. I like making instructables that ev…

Halloween is coming and what better way to spend Halloween with some friends?

Don't have any? Well why not make some new ones with this fun and cheap instructable?

The longest thing about this instructable is waiting for the clay to dry but other than that its pretty straight forward.

Supplies

Cheap glove puppet (i got mine from the pound shop)

Air dry play clay. You can pick this up in pound shops as well as other places relatively cheaply. The stuff i am using for this instructable came from Flying Tiger, 2 packs for 1 pound and they came with a pull back mechanism (like for toy cars)

Paint, acrylic or something similar (ie not water based ready mix) I'm actually using model paints here. You dont need to paint your creation as you can use different colours of play clay. I'm using a limited range of colours that came with

Super glue.

Some sculpting tools. depending on your plan you might want to have some sculpting tools handy and by tools i dont mean anything expensive, tooth picks paper clips and the ends of pens all work well :)

Step 1: Face Off

To get started simply push in any features on the glove puppets face (should it have any)

Start sculpting the face making sure that it covers any features like the eyes.

When using play clay it can be quite sticky so be careful.

Step 2: Gotta Hand It to Him

To start sculpting the hands you may want to sculpt it over the end of a sharpie or similar type pen. The main thing is that your fingers can fit into the hands so make sure there is plenty of space.

When sculpting the fingers dont make them to long and thin as Play clay tends to snap if it is (if it does its not the end of the world, just glue it back on :) )

leave the hands and face to dry (over night is best)

Step 3: Paint Them Up

This step is only if like me you are using a limited range of play clay colours.

You can make the features using the different types of play clay and even add a few bits of paint

Step 4: Gluing the Hands in Place

IMPORTANT! take care when doing this step, dont glue yourself to your puppet.

I put some glue inside the hands and then using the end of the sharpie I used it to hold the puppets arm in place and placed the hand over it, quickly removing the pen

DON'T USE YOUR FINGER FOR THIS BIT AND LEAVE IT FOR PLENTY OF TIME TO DRY!

Step 5: Gluing the Face On

IMPORTANT: Again be careful when using super glue.

Put some glue onto the back of the face and attach it to the glove puppet.

Once stuck you can then add some glue around the edge of the face and carefully fold some of the fur over it to give it a sunk into the puppet look. I did this by gluing a bit and then folding it over keeping my fingers to either side of the glue and working my way around bit by bit

Step 6: IT'S ALIVE! AAAALIVE!!

And you're done!!!

I had a lot of fun making these guys (and made a lot of silly noises while doing it)

As always I hope you enjoyed this instructable and as always, thoughts, comments and even photos of your own gruesome glove puppets are welcome in the comments section below.

Halloween Contest 2019

Participated in the
Halloween Contest 2019